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Mat_6:22-23. Connection: In order to fulfil the duty mentioned in Mat_6:19-20, and warranted by what is said in Mat_6:21, you must not allow the light within you, i.e. the reason ( ὁ νοῦς , Chrysostom), which apprehends divine truth, to become obscured, i.e. it must be preserved in that state of normal action in which error and moral evil find no place. The obscuring of this faculty of thought and volition, by which the divine is perceived and morally assimilated, imparts a wrong tendency and complexion to the entire life of the individual man. Comp. Luther: “This is a warning not to allow ourselves to be taken in by fair colours and outward appearance, with which avarice may trick itself out and conceal the knave.” The supposition that Mat_6:22 f. originally stood immediately behind Mat_5:16 (Ewald, Jahrb. I. p. 129) is therefore without sufficient logical warrant, and Luk_11:33-36 may be a later digest of similar import. Observe, moreover, that nothing is said here about the capability of the natural reason, purely as such, to apprehend the divine by its own unaided efforts; for Jesus has in view those who are believers, whose νοῦς is already under the influence of the divine truth which He has revealed to them (Eph_1:18; Rom_12:2). However, the subjective meaning of ὀφθαλμός and φῶς must be preserved intact, nor is φῶς to be understood, with Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 320, as referring to the holy nature of God, which seeks to illuminate the hearts of men.
ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλ . μός ] for without the eye the body is in darkness; the blind man is without light, which comes through the medium of the eye as though it were a lamp. The subject is not ὁ ὀφθαλμός (Luther, Bengel), but ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώμ ., to which corresponds τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοί , the subject in the application of the illustration.
ἁπλοῦς and πονηρός are mostly understood in the sense of: healthy (which many have defined more precisely as the opposite of double-sight), and damaged. But usage is in favour only of πονηρός being employed in this sense (see Kypke; comp. Plat. Hipp. min. p. 374 D: πονηρία ὀφθαλμῶν , also the German expression “böse Augen”), but not ἁπλοῦς , which means only integer in the moral sense of the word. Comp. Test. XII. patr. p. 624: ἁπλότης ὀφθαλμῶν , as meaning the opposite of the dishonest, hypocritical cast of the eye. Consequently the above meaning is contrary to usage, and both words must be understood in their moral signification, so that Jesus has selected the predicates in His illustration in view of the state of things to which the illustration refers, and in which the darkness of the νοῦς is the result of the evil will resisting divine truth (Rom_1:21). Therefore: if thine eye is honest, i.e. if it honestly does its duty,—and: if it is good for nothing, i.e. if it maliciously refuses to perform its functions.
φωτεινόν ] is enlightened, so that it is clear round about him; through the light which is perceived by the eye, no one of his members is in darkness.
εἰ οὖν , κ . τ . λ .] Inference a minori ad majus.
τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοί ] i.e. the νοῦς especially as practical reason (Vernunft). The figurative designation (Philo, de cond. mund. I. p. 12 : ὅπερ νοῦς ἐν ψυχῇ , τοῦτο ὀφθαλμὸς ἐν σώματι , comp. Plat. Rep. vii. p. 533 D: τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμμα , Soph. p. 254 A. Creuzer, ad Plot. de pulcr. p. 361) is suggested by, and is correlative to, ὁ λύχνος , etc., Mat_6:22. Comp. Euth. Zigabenus: ὁ νοῦς ὁ δωρηθεὶς εἰς τὸ φωτίζειν καὶ ὁδηγεῖν τὴν ψυχήν .
σκότος ] corresponds to πονηρός above, though denoting at the same time the effect of the evil condition.
τὸ σκότος πόσον ] s.c. ἐστί : how great then (since the worthlessness of the outward eye involves one in darkness) is the darkness, τὸ σκότος , in which thou liest! But τὸ σκότος , from being put first, is very emphatic. Luther (following the ordinary reading of the Vulg.: ipsae tenebrae) and Calvin interpret incorrectly: how great will then be the darkness itself. Thine, in that case, is the condition in which there is no susceptibility for that divine truth which would enlighten and sanctify thee; and this darkness, how great is it!